Far from the human kingdom of {Tordge}, there existed a surreal world of floating islands, all suspended in the air. Not that {Tordge} wasn’t surreal already, but I digress. Three giant floating rivers flowed from one island to another, creating an odd connection between each island. And there in the middle of all those islands, floated one little island, holding on it an ancient stone pedestal.

A couple hundred kilometres away from that island, the island Alex and Marie reached some days ago could be seen. However, the once empty island was no more, and in its stead, was a giant floating body of water, with some small islands floating over the floating lake. Just like the rest, the water floated magically without any support.

And there, on one of the small islands, Marie could be seen, sitting there helplessly.

“A-Alex!”

Marie shouted, watching as her friend was blasted away. By a spark of luck, Alex was able to throw her away, but in return, he was faced with the full brunt of that attack. Putting his arms up to guard, he was blasted away, and fell into the waters below.

Slowly, his consciousness began to fade away.

-Several minutes before-

Standing there silently, Alex stared out into the world around him, taking in the world he had gotten himself into. If he were to compare, which one would be deadlier, the archipelago, or this world of floating islands? He wasn’t too sure.

Not that he wanted to know.

But the reason he was simply staring out like this wasn’t because he wanted to spend some down time to think. Instead, from the moment he went walking around this island, he felt an odd feeling, emanating from down below. It somehow reminded him of that encounter he had with that purple octopus, but that was in the past.

This one far felt much more ominous.

“Hah…”

Actually, he had actually tried to search for this odd feeling, using his newly gained skill [[Third Vision]], which allowed him to visualise magic current in exchange for the visualisation of colour. But no matter how many times he looked around with it, he wasn’t able to catch anything strange from this island.

“Pii!”

Ah, and just like that, he was brought back to the present.

Behind him, the crab was playing around, surfing around the makeshift pool he created, just like always. And there by the edge, Marie could be seen dipping her toes into the waters as she watched the crab surf around.

She also seems somewhat lost in thought…

Is she having the same problem as he is?

Meh, we’ll never know.

“Hah…What the hell…”

Sighing once more, Alex turned away from the edge of the island and walked back. Standing there wouldn’t accomplish anything anyways.

Now, what to-

“Piiii?!”

Just as he was about to think about something, something odd suddenly surfaced from the waters and swallowed the little crab whole, which was quickly followed up by the crab shrieking in fear before it disappeared back into the waters.

“E-Eh?!”

“……What?”

Marie and Alex could only view as the little crab suddenly disappeared into the waters below. They stared on for a moment, questioning their own sanity before Alex finally acted up. His whole body froze as an ominous presence loomed over them. Marie soon felt this not long after.

“…I see.”

“E-Eh?! A-Alex?!”

Without wasting any more time, Alex quickly ran up to Marie and carried her up. Marie was, obviously shocked at this sudden development, but didn’t mind it that much. Instead, it felt quite warm in his arms…

Wait, this isn’t the time to think about that!

And just to be careful, she wrapped her arms around his neck. I-It’s just for safety, okay?

*Gururururururu*

The island around them began shaking. The dirt below began cracking and tearing apart, causing small and large chasms to appear across the whole island. At first it was subtle, but as more and more cracks began spreading across the island, Alex could clearly feel something, some energy pulsating from under them.

*Puuushhhh*

And then, as the island continued to fall apart, water began to sprout out from within the many chasms, filling in the now expanded pool.

“What the…hell…?”

Alex watched silently as the island continued to fall apart, enlarging the already large pool of water at the centre of the island. Soon enough, the whole island collapsed, leaving only the huge body of water behind, suspended in the air. The water on the edges of the island seemingly stood unmoving, as if there was an invisible barrier blocking the water from flowing out.

Or maybe there was, who knows?

*Gururururururururururu*

The tremors however still persisted, getting even bigger and even more powerful. Strong waves were sent out from the centre of the island, where the little crab was first swallowed up. Alex and Marie watched as they floated above the waters, thanks to Alex’s new [[Sea Surfing]] skill, taught and inspired by the one and only Mr. Crab! Which is probably dead now.

“BUVOO!!!”

And finally, from the centre of this floating lake, the perpetrator behind all of this came out. And Alex was certainly not expecting such a massive worm-like creature to appear from this island. But the more he thought about it, it made sense that this island was so, empty. All the monsters were probably either driven away or eaten up by this monstrosity.

Appearance wise, this worm looked more like an earthworm, having a slimy body that was shaped like tube that was around 1 metre wide in diameter. Its skin was brown, with some occasional black spots peppered across its skin. He could also visibly see some nearly transparent scales, covering the slimy body of the worm. Also, the mouth, which is usually nearly invisible, was wide open and covered in sharp teeth.

Yikes…Did the crab get eaten by this?

Well, I guess it’s in a better place now.

“BUVOOO!!!”

For the first time in several years, the giant worm spotted its food, something it had been yearning for dearly as it rotted away in the depths of the now empty island. Well, I guess it wasn’t really an island anymore. It’s more like a floating lake now…

So, in both rage and excitement, the giant worm swam across the water, in an attempt to reach them. Sadly, Alex was also adept at moving across bodies of water, and quickly moved away. With a much larger pool to play in, both Alex and the giant worm practically played cat and mouse as they swam across the giant pool, just this time if Alex loses, he’ll die.

“BUVO!”

Quickly realising that its prey was just as fast as it was, the giant worm stopped. It knew that chasing it in a speed contest will only result in it losing, so it needed to take him down first. With that thought in mind, the worm began to suck the surrounding waters.

“Oh, come on.”

How many times has he met monsters that are like this? It hasn’t even been a month yet, and he’s already seen the same attack pattern about 3 or 4 times! Are all the monsters just asking for some sodium?!

Conjuring a small cube of sodium in his spare hand, he aimed carefully and threw the cube into the water it was sucking. As a result-

*Boom!*

An explosion occurred, sending splashes of water into the air. Alex triumphantly looked on, only to realise that such petty techniques will not damage a monster of that level.

“GUUVOOO!!!”

*Buuuuuusshhh*

Out from the gaping mouth it had, an insanely fast stream of water was shot out. Alex was barely able to react due to his [Blood Hound] skill, allowing him to react faster. The water jet landed into water, causing a giant explosion of water. His eyes gleamed red.

“I guess not…huh…”

I suppose those scales it had wasn’t just for show. Somehow, he felt like this monster knew he was coming, and had that prepared so that it couldn’t use sodium as a viable weapon. What a cheat. Cursing lightly, Alex turned around and continued to dodge the incoming jets of water. Explosions of water happened all around the floating lake.

“Marie!”

“Awawa?! W-What is it?!”

“Prepare your asteroid belt! We’re closing in!”

“E-Eh?!”

Turning his direction back to the giant worm, Alex charged some MP into his [[Sea Surfing]] skill, and sped towards the giant worm. Marie could only watch on in horror as they closed in on the giant worm, who just shot out another water jet.

*Boooooom!*

Avoiding the water jet once more, Alex continued to speed up, closing in on the worm. Obviously, the worm noticed this, and stopped its attack for a moment. Instead, it began to suck in a huge amount of water, causing a large whirlpool to form around it, with the worm in the centre. Alex was instantly thrown off balance the instance he touched the whirlpool.

“K-Kuh! [[Concentration!]]”

To increase his mental focus, Alex activated his [[Concentration]], allowing him to concentrate even further…[[Concentration]] to concentrate, wow, that sounds absolutely redundant.

“Marie!”

“Y-Yes!”

While making sure not to hit Alex, Marie formed a group of asteroids around them, and made them revolve around them, quickly building up momentum. With that prepared, Alex charged into the swirling waters, making sure not to lose balance as he moved across the dangerous waters.

And finally, after they traversed through the whirlpool, they got close enough to hit the giant worm!

*Papapapapapapa*

However, the asteroids barely made a dent in its tough scales. Instead, Marie’s asteroids were the one being damaged, having chunks of the rocks blown away from the huge amount of momentum they had built up. It seems, this wasn’t a viable strategy either. With that realisation, Alex quickly made it out of the whirlpool.

“BUVVOOO!!”

*Buushh!*

Noticing them leaving, the giant worm stopped the whirlpool and began to fire out its deadly water jets. Explosions of water flew into the air.

“What now?”

Alex quickly began racking his brain for any more things he could try, as he was doing his best to dodge both the giant worm’s attacks, and also the small chunks of floating dirt, probably still there as the remains of the island.

Actually, how did the water even appear?

Ah, who knows?

Woah! Better dodge that!

*Buuuuushhh!*

“Hmm…”

Seeing as Alex was able to dodge even its ranged attacks, the worm began growing impatient. Although it didn’t mind battling something for a long time, it despised persistent preys that held out for longer than it needed to. Luckily, it still had many attacks left unused.

Stopping its water beam attack for a moment, it leaked some of its magic reserves into the waters, and using its [Water Manipulation] skill, a skill a tier below that of [Water Magic] it controlled the water it was in.

But, just like it did, Alex was able to visualise magic. Once he felt something was off, as the worm had stopped firing, he immediately activated his [[Third Vision]] and saw a burst of water coming from underneath. He easily dodged the incoming water torpedoes, as he called it.

It sounded pretty appropriate!

“Guuuu”

Seeing as its underwater attacks were also failing, it moved on to its next technique.

“What?”

Just as he finished dodging the last water torpedo, the direction he was heading at was suddenly blocked as 4 chunks of floating dirt crashed into each other and formed a wall. Although this looked good on paper, it wasn’t that big of a deal, as he could just jump on the floating dirt clump and then jump off again onto the water. The worm clearly forgot he had legs.

“Guuuuuuuuuuuuu”

Alex jumped back onto the water surface, and continued moving across the waters. Being honest, he could’ve stayed on the island and began sniping the worm from afar, but seeing as his sodium explosion was stopped, he judged that such a plan probably wasn’t a good idea.

Being irritated as all hell, the giant worm sent some more magic into the water. Since it can’t catch him, and since it can’t shoot him, then it’ll just block and stop him entirely!

“…Again?”

Since Alex was still using his [[Third Vision]] along with his [[Concentration]], he instantly noticed a clump of magic waiting for him just a couple metres in front of him. Without advancing any further, he turned around and surfed away from the clump of magic. Seeing this, the giant worm grew even more irritated. If it could generate heat from anger, its whole body would be covered in steam by now.

Right now, the giant worm can’t kill him, and he can’t kill it.

The match is locked on a stalemate.

Or that was how it looked to be.

“BUUUUUVVVOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”

In a complete fury, the giant worm sent a tremendous amount of magic into the waters, and using its [Water Manipulation] skill, it controlled the water to form into 3 other clones of itself. Now, with 3 more worms on its side, it was ready to turn the match on its head!

“BUVOOO!”

Returning to its root, the worms began to suck in the water from the giant body of water, building up more water to prepare for an all-out attack. A giant whirlpool, spanning around 10 metres in radius was formed from the tremendous amount of water they were pulling in. Alex simply watched from the side-lines, somewhat marvelling at its actions.

“GUUVVOO!!!”

In unison, the 4 worms shot out a jet of water at him, who once more, easily dodged the incoming attacks. But, just as he thought, the barrage wasn’t over. They continued to fire more and more water, causing huge explosions of water to occur all across the floating lake. But, Alex soon noticed that the water jets weren’t the only attack it was launching.

From his [[Third Vision]], he caught sight of hundreds of waters torpedoes, all moving through to catch him. From that moment, his job just got much harder as he was now forced to dodge both the water beams and the incoming torpedoes. Sweat was beginning to build up on his back.

And, just like before, the torpedoes weren’t the only thing it had in mind. Out across the floating lake, walls of water began to form, hoping to force him down a narrow path to hopefully blast him away. And it did succeed to a certain degree.

“Tch…”

Alex began panting as exhaustion began to pile up, both mentally and physically. His legs felt like mush, and his magic reserves wasn’t looking too good either. If this goes on for any longer, he might lose this, and most likely fall prey to the cold touch of death.

“Come on…”

But, just like the worm, Alex too had a plan. Right now, all he was doing was pretty much waiting for the worm to die out, but it seems it’ll take much longer than-

“BUVVOOO!!”

“Gufo?!”

To his surprise, he failed to notice a water torpedo charging below him, and he was blown up into the air, where 4 jets of water were targeted directly at him. As a last attempt, Alex spotted the nearest floating chunk of dirt, and threw Marie over there. Praying silently in his heart, Alex readied himself and accepted the full brunt of all those water beams, blasting him away and ultimately causing him to fall into the waters.

“A-Alex!”

Marie helplessly shouted as Alex floated slowly sank into the water, his consciousness already gone. Terrified, Marie slowly turned around to look at the giant worm, who was merely staying there, not moving one bit.

“…E-Eh?”

Why isn’t it moving? Alex and her was completely vulnerable now, so why isn’t it moving one bit? But not long after she asked that, her answer was revealed.

“B-Bu…vooo…”

*Byuur!”

The 3 worm replicas began to morph, before dropping back into the water. The one remaining worm let out a weak noise, before falling straight onto the water surface, dead.

…Eh? W-Wait, how did it die?!

“…!”

Although it was barely visible, Marie noticed a pale blue, near transparent liquid slowly leak out of the worm’s open mouth. She herself wasn’t very well versed into chemistry, but she at least knew that the liquid she could see was definitely some type of poison!

“W-Wait, Alex!”

But enough of that, Alex about to sink in! Forming an asteroid in her hands, she began to use it as a paddle to slowly move closer to him. If this water was contaminated with poison, it might not be a good idea to dip her hands in.

Just before Alex sunk in completely, Marie extended her arms and dragged him back onto the floating island. But even if he was out of the water, will he be alright? After gulping in some poison too? She seriously doubted he would come out alright.

And so, while keeping herself as optimistic as she could, she waited for his consciousness to return…

……

……

…………

…………

…It was silent all around him.

Darkness shrouded his vision, only a single poorly lit light bulb could be seen, shining dimly above him.

Where is this? Was the first obvious question that popped up inside him, but soon enough, he recalled something similar happening in the past.

Squinting his eyes slightly, he sat up from the metal armchair he was sitting on. The cold feeling washed away from his arms and legs as they left the cold and rusty foundation.

Turning around, he once again saw a gigantic machine, broken and way past it’s ages. Its cogs and wires were visible, and many of its tubes and cables were scratched and bare open to the cold and dark air around him.

And looking to the opposite side of this dark room, he could just barely see the twin sliding metal doors he struggled up to the last time he was here. However, he didn’t get to finish his journey, as he was brought back to reality sooner than he wanted.

If he wanted to see what’s on the other side, that time is now.

“…Phew…”

Taking a breather, he gathered his courage and made his way to the metal doors. This time, he did his best to make no attention to the sticky substance he was stepping on, coating his shoes in a red coat.

Placing his hands into the gap in between the slightly opened doors, he stood to the left and began pulling the door open. Sounds of grating metal echoed across the darkened room, bouncing back into his ears.

*Krriiiiiiiii……Bang!*

After one final pull, the door he was pulling reached its limit, and stopped, before the door decided that it didn’t want to act like a door and collapsed face first onto the floor. Luckily, he somehow managed to dodge that in this shrouding darkness.

And there, walking through the now open doors, he saw another corridor, dimly lit by only one light dangerously hanging off the ceiling.

“What the f*ck is this place…?”

Taking several steps into this new room, he looked around, hoping to find something interesting in this dimly lit corridor.

And sure enough, he did find something, or someone to be exact.

Although that someone must surely be dead by now.

“?!”

On his right, he could see a man’s lifeless body, hanged up with a noose tied around his neck. His tongue was let out, dried and torn off by…something. His chest was ripe and open with bullet holes. Blood flowed out like a waterfall. And, he was seemingly hidden behind a pane of glass, as if he was some sort of animal in display.

It made him sick.

His stomach twisted and turned as his eyes continued to stare at this dead body, the remains of a man once alive. Putting his hands over his mouth, he turned around and vomited for a moment.

Although the concept of a dead body didn’t scare him as much, getting to see one this close, truly made him sick to the core.

No matter what, he would not become like that man.

Quickly turning away from the sickening display, he inhaled deeply, and continued his walk deeper into the darkness. Slowly, his figure blurred together within the darkness and disappeared.

That was the last moment of memory he could recall before he woke up.